Army counselors in short supply in war zones

Army counselors in short supply in war zones

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Wednesday Apr 2, 2008 7:15:22 EDT

WASHINGTON — Soldiers in hard-to-reach outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan lack timely access to mental health care, according to Pentagon officials and a recent survey. The problem comes as the Army is struggling to hire enough professionals to counsel its troops.

About one-third of soldiers in these areas say they can’t see a counselor when they need to, according to results of a survey conducted last year and released last month.

In Iraq, mental health professionals must travel in armed convoys to reach troops stationed in embattled neighborhoods. In Afghanistan, it can take an average of 40 hours for a psychologist to visit soldiers, the Army study says.

The Army surveyed 3,168 soldiers in its study. Today, there are 157,000 soldiers in Iraq and 31,000 in Afghanistan. As part of President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq last year, many soldiers were moved to isolated outposts.

“They [mental health counselors] can’t be in every place at the same time,” says Lt. Col. Sharon McBride, an Army psychologist and researcher.

When counselors reach combat troops, they make a difference, says Lt. Col. Jim Carter, chaplain for the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq. In four months, the division has suffered only one suicide, he says. Last year, the Army reported a record number of suicides.

The Army, recognizing the need for more counseling, said nine months ago that it would hire 200 additional mental health professionals by May. It later raised the number to 288, about a 25 percent increase in staff. So far, 158 slots are filled.

Army Capt. Bryan Shea, 41, of Canton, N.Y., is a reservist and psychologist with a state psychiatric facility. He will soon go to Iraq for a third deployment.

Shea says he is eager to help soldiers, but that deployments have shattered his personal life. He says he is in the midst of a bitter divorce and that he lost custody of his two daughters, ages 10 and 15, because of his deployment.

“They got to keep recycling those of us who are in, and it gets tiring pretty fast,” says Shea, whose offer to resign from the Army has not been accepted.

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